Beautiful job! I have a couple of questions. We are using alot of the same size rectified porcelain tiles (4 baths)what are the 1x1's you are using to go with it? Are they ceramic or rectified porcelain?

Thanks for all your kind comments, folks!

tanem- the small tiles on the walls are 3/4" glass mosaic, the kind that comes on a 12 x 12 paper-faced sheet. They're plain white, which was hard to find (usually you find "blends" with sparkly irredescents and other tones, which isn't the look we wanted.) It was also hard to find a plain white glass without cool undertones... I recommend using white thinset if you go this route. I found a very competitively-priced source, so they ended up being a lot less than ceramic, although the labor was more to install them!

houseful- the shower is 3 feet by about 4' 8" (inside floor measurements). The windows are vinyl, tempered glass, with privacy glass. The edges are all cement-boarded, as Bill described, and he tiled up to the edge of the window. He made sure the bottom edge (sill) was slanted down at the front edge, so any water returns to the shower where it belongs. I'm hoping he will be back today or tomorrow to caulk the gaps around the edges, and then they'll be good to go.

We should be starting to install the fixtures after Christmas, and I'll post pics then.

Thanks for the info. I have a similar space that I am trying to plan.

Merry Christmas!!

Hi Bill;

Beautifully done, but how? I'm talking about getting everything lined up so well. Could you please elaborate a bit on this - I'd love to know what you did exactly. When you say you opened or closed up the sheets - I'm guessing it means you repositioned the tiles on a sheet very slightly to increase or decrease the coverage and so tile edges and corners lined up. Were these sheets manufactured in a way that made that process easier? Maybe I've misinterpreted you comment.

Thanks,

Bill

Beautifully done, but how?

It's a secret. :-)

Seriously-- weeks before we started, I showed Stacey how the sheets, even following their directional arrows and keeping the sheets all going in the same direction, were STILL badly mounted. Believe me when I tell you, if this had been grey grout, this thread would look drastically different with respect to the accolades. We pretty much centered each sheet on the prior sheets, and followed a laser bench mark I set before we began, and then plumb lines as we went along. Now, as for squeezing and spreading, the coursing for this tile was 7/8", including the grout joint. The only really long wall I had, was also a wall I had no choice in my starting point, and that was the back wall, whcih came off the corner of the tub. I drew a plumb line as my starting point, taking into consideration the thickness of tile on the face of the tub, and then measured in each direction. I had about a 3/4 piece of tile in the back corner of the tub, but I would've had about a 1/4 piece i the back corner of the shower, not to mention where the tile was going to go to the ceiling, I wanted to hit as close to in line with the outside face of the curb as possible. At the same time, I had to try and hit the window as close to full tile on both sides as possible. To do this, I had to slightly squeeze the sheets together to try and gain about 1/4" over the length of the wall. That gave me full tile at both sides of the window, and almost full tile in the corner. Then, when I did the back side of the shower wall that faces the toilet, at the very top of the wall, if I'd let the sheets go up just as they came out of my hand and put them up plumb, by the time I got to the ceiling, I would've had about a 3/8" wide joint in the corner, so I opened up the entire last sheet, row by row, for the last three sheets up to the ceiling.

As for how I did this, these sheets were face mounted. That is, the paper mounting was on the front of the tile, rather than as a backing. So all I had to do was cut the paper mounting to do whatever I had to do.

I'd have liked to have been there to see it all happen.

Reminds me of some friends who have too much money. They wanted the human touch for a new mosaic tile job, so they had the tile guy separate each tile from the sheet and lay them individually. $60,000 for just the tile. I think it took 3 months. Pretty cool, but...

Absolutely astounding narrative there, Bill. You earn every cent you make.

My brain hurts looking at that. But in a good way. :-) I just finished messing with some badly mounted glass tile, but at least it was a TINY amount! I would never try to tackle that one.

bill g web, just wanted to add that I'd have done that for your friends for $30K :)

Reminds me of some friends who have too much money. They wanted the human touch for a new mosaic tile job, so they had the tile guy separate each tile from the sheet and lay them individually. $60,000 for just the tile. I think it took 3 months.

You'd have to come up with a whole lot more than that for me, just so I could afford the PROZAC!! :-)

Funny you should say that. One of the last days I was over at Stacey's, and I told her I was surprised she didn't do something like the one I did a few years ago, that had the same contemporary look in mind. That one was all 1" hex tile, though, walls floor tub deck, shower, and ceiling. Just for comparison, Stacey's was about 200 feet total. This bathroom was closer to 1100:

wow - that even hurts my eyeballs to look at let alone be attaching it to a wall or floor! the bigger the tile, the better for me!

how are your eyeballs doing?

This quote should've been in my last post, just before "Funny you should say that:

My brain hurts looking at that. But in a good way. :-) I just finished messing with some badly mounted glass tile, but at least it was a TINY amount! I would never try to tackle that one.

I donn know wha hoppent!!

desertsteph-- My eyes were fine after Stacey's project. That one I just posted pics of, though, before it was grouted, if I stared at the tile, it literally would make me go crosseyed. For real. :-) Let me see if I can find a few ungrouted pics.

Here you go (be sure to be sitting down!):

Bill--Yeah, I'd seen that bathroom before, and I was actually thinking about it as I was working on this one. Mainly thinking about the fact that there wouldn't be a mental ward that could hold me after that!

Stacey, this is a very useful thread! I noticed you posted some layout information about your bathroom in a different thread about someone's 12 x 14 master. Could you add the sketches and floor plan to this thread for the benefit of posterity (and especially, me)? I am thrilled to see your bathroom, because it has a similary layout and spacing to my planned master. I was concerned my layout was too tight, but your bathroom looks huge to me! So, now I know mine will work. This is priceless info. Thank you for your detailed posts!

slateberry51-
I am so glad to be of help! I have received so much help from this (and the Kitchens) forum, so it's really nice to know I am now able to give back and help someone else :)

Here are the links you requested:
floor plan (room is 13'2" x 6'4") One window (south) existing; we added two fixed privacy windows in the shower.

perspective sketch

I should have some more photos to post in a couple days!

I keep checking this thread to see if you've posted more pics...

I'll be going back on thursday for some minor touch-ups. I'm told some of the finish work's been done, and I can't wait to see it!!

nanner nanner!! :-)

Hmm. I posted photos an hour or so ago, and now the post is gone. Oh, well! here goes again:

We hope to have the window/door/baseboard trim, and tub installed, and toilet installed, and all electrical/lighting in by the weekend. Next week the shower glass and vanity top should arrive.

The tub is just dry-fit here (still in plastic). The bare spot with no tile on the wall is where the vanity (mahogany) will go.

Stacey:
So pretty! Love it!
I am currently trying to figure out toilet paper holders...can you show me yours?

Ah, so beautiful and calm--thanks for posting! What's going on with the wall color? I can't really tell from my monitor, and if that's not the color it would be fine even if it were :)

Thanks guys! The wall color is BM #1493 (Zenful or Morning Dew). It's a slightly green, warm neutral. I had a frustrating time with wall color... the palette I'd originally chosen was based on all creamy whites with some tan/gold from the calacatta gold marble, much more on the brown-and-white side of neutral. But the glass tiles, though they had seemed opaque, did pick up the grey color of the thinset and came out looking a whole lot cooler and blue-er than I had envisioned. At first I was heartbroken as it threw off the rest of my vision. Then we tried 5 or 6 paint color swatches on the wall, and this one really warmed the space up. We also used a warm white (BM Atrium White) on the ceiling rather than my standard bright white. So the space is a little cooler and more spa-y than orginally planned but it does look beautiful. I can't wait to get the mahogany cabinetry in there!! (Hoping to do tht next weekend...) Oh- and we did not get Starfire glass so the shower walls will also pull some blue-green in too...

firsthouse_mp: I have not gotten the TP holder yet, so I can't help you! All the ones that go best with my chosen faucets and lighting are the vertical type, and I don't think I want that kind. I like the horizontal kind that has an arm on one side only. So I'll keep looking...

This past weekend we:
-installed all the lighting and made it operational
-trimmed all the doors/windows in the bathroom and closets and painted it (a PITA since we had to rout radiused edges on every piece to match the old house trim!)
-installed the Toto toilet (also a PITA. We've installed a half-dozen "normal" toilets on wood floors and they took maybe an hour each. This one took us SIX hours! Most of that was drilling the mounting holes -which Toto requires unlike normal ones- in the porcelain tile. Damn that porcelain is tough!!! We have a hammer drill (!) and even with that it took us about two hours, not including another hour driving back and forth to get more diamond drill bits... we went through SIX of them. Jeez Louise!
-installed the bathtub. We were scared to do this, since we had NO access under the tub except at the drain end. And we had to get the feet level on the floor (which wasn't level to begin with) and then insulate around it and pour a mortar bed. it was pretty stressful but it's now in and feels pretty darn solid!

I started a new thread with new photos here:

Here is a link that might be useful: Semi-modern bath progress photos

A Bill Vincent original bathroom? I am so jealous! I can't stand it. It's so beautiful!

Hi Stacey-- Lovely new bathroom! I saw you were still looking for some hardware. I used the Jado IQ faucets in my new bath (both shower and sink), and I found that the Restoration Hardware Albion hardware line matched the Jado style really well. I have the TP holder (which is sideways, one side), the train rack and the towel holder. Hope that helps. BTW, I think you're going to like the Jado IQ faucets-- they have held up really well for me, including a handheld shower that I use to death!

thanks, callieandkarin!
As you can see we have the DH Albion sconces... I'll look at the other stuff too, thanks for the tip.
I used the Jado IQ at the tub, but our shower trims and lav faucets are Kohler Purist. (Kohler did not have a roman tub set with the handshower and it was ridiculously pricely to piecemeal one from their line, plus I like the IQ tub stuff a lot and it goes very nicely with the Purist line...)

REstoration Hardware no longer has an Albion tissue holder!! Shoot! Too bad, since it would be perfect. I actually found some other towel rods that look identical to the Albion stuff, though seem a smaller diameter rod, on eBay. But not TP holder!

Stacey-- check ebay. You might get lucky.

Thanks Bill- I did look there, and found nothing, sadly. I will keep looking though, as it is perfect!

Staceyneil, your bathroom is coming along so well. I just love the big tiles on the floor in the neutral color. I love the small tiles you used in the shower. I love the bathtub and I love that new toilet. You are so lucky to have Bill to do your job the right way. When I do my kitchen and maybe one day in the future when I do my bathrooms (that will not be next year since my kitchen is coming first), I need to find a talented local tile installer like Bill.

Thanks lynn2006! I know- I was very lucky to be able to have someone I could just trust to do the job beautifully, so I would not stress about it! I had quotes from a couple of (cheaper) guys but I just KNEW it would be weeks of stress and baby-sitting them to make sure the project was done properly. Bill was just awesome to work with!

Stacy
I'm sooooooooo jealous on so many levels -

- Your beautiful bathroom
- Your elements in your bathroom,
-

mostly that you got our very own BILL V!!!!!!!!!

So unfair

I'm going to have to get Bill to my summer cottage in Maine - he really needs to be shared

Bill???

Enjoy your lovely new bath!

I'll be here!! Where abouts in Maine? (I'm in Bridgton)

Bill

Biddeford Pool

Down past UNE! I've done work there before, years ago. Nice place!!

Like I said-- whenever you're ready. :-)

Matter of fact, In about another week or two, I'll be doing a house not too far up the beach from there in Saco, by Camp Ellis.

Bill
We bike to UNE, go to Saco frequently, and Camp Ellis goodness the whole place is sinking into the ocean - seems years ago the Army Corp of engineers built a jetty to help alleviate beach erosion - well, it appears it may be adding to it.
The Patriots Day Nor'Easter caused lots of damage

Jim Hussey is a local contractor Biddeford Pool an older gentleman who lives right up the road fr. UNE - He is the brain, his son is the muscle -

Here is a link that might be useful: Camp Ellis 2007

Bill - those tiles made my innards flip and my head hurt in a fraction of a second - and i was sitting down!!

you must have eyes of steel... lol!

Like I said, I'll be ready when you are. This is Stacey's thread. I already derailed it on her once! LOL

Stacey, do you by any chance know the brand of tile you used for the white mosaic tiles? I love them and would love to find some like it. Your bathroom is totally gorgeous!

Thanks yillimuh!

The glass tiles I got are from a place called OKGlassTile. (OKglasstile.com, aka Tile Shack) I originally found them on eBay, but ordered directly on line. The tiles were very inexpensive, $2.50 s/f, and look remarkably -exactly?- the same as the $35.00/sf Bisazza glass mosaics that the local high-end tile shop carries. BUT I am pretty sure the difference is in the way they're mounted. Bill, our installer, pointed out that some tiles were set crooked on the paper backing, some had corner chips, etc. And a few have some darker inclusions in the white glass. I kind of like these 'defects' though, since it gives them a more handmade, natural look, which is what I wanted.

By the way I just posted some updated photos here:http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg010946331466.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Updated photos after a good weekend's work..;

Wow! What a great price. I think I just found the tile I'm going to use! Those defects don't sound scary to me, and if something is really bad, I'm sure it isn't too hard to switch out a tile or two.

Did you use the Blanco colored tiles from their Art Tile collection? That's what it looks like to me.

Yup, that's right. Blanco. They sent me a few samples of all the whites they have (no charge!) and I picked the truest, whitest white... the others were greyer, or bluer.

I also wanted a more monolithic look, not the varied look that seems more common in glass mosaic installations, where there are irridescent and slightly different whites mixed in. Most places only sell those mixes, I found.

Be aware that they do take on a cooler, bluer tone when set in thinset that's called white (but actually grey). If keeping it as white as possible is important to you, find a true white thinset. I'm now happy with the color, but was bummed at first because it didn't go with my original design palette (creamy whites and tan/neutrals). But the new palette works too!

I'm actually going for a greyish color palette, so that is fine with me. Right now, I'm thinking that the walls & shower surround will be white mosaic tile and the floors will be some kind of marble - maybe carrara hex tiles, although I think a larger tile might look good to contrast with the tiny white tiles.

Sounds lovely. My shower floor and niches are the most scrumptiously GORGEOUS calacatta gold mosaic. It has these chipped edges and varying sized pieces so it looks (to me) both classic, old-world, and modern at the same time. It was a little unorthodox putting it together with the glass tiles, but it came out great, I think! So your cararra hex sounds like a good match, too. And the coolness of the cararra (I have it on my kitchen counters) will definitely be beautiful with the cool, slightly-blue of the glass, assuming you use a grey-ish thinset.

Quite honestly, I didn't like it when it first went in. But it kinda grows on you! :-)

Once it was all grouted, it popped.

What brand/model is the bathtub?

Is this you on their page?

Here is a link that might be useful: staceyneil?

Sorry- I just saw this!

it's a Kohler Archer tub... and yes, pinch_me, it is. They were so helpful so I sent them pics of the completed project and they asked if they could use them on the site.

WAY cool!

I LOVE that pic and can't tell you how many times I've looked at it! You got a great shot with your kitty checking out the new digs! And I love how the kitty's coloring goes with the room. Anyone who has a cat knows how they need to inspect anything new. When I completed my bathroom recently, my cat made it into the new tub before I did. Dry of course.
And Bill's tile work is beautiful. Congrats to you both!